


breaking the bones of your heart

by Iki_teru



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Fluff, Found Family, Gen, post dream drop distance, probably au from kh 3 because lbr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 07:04:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5530358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iki_teru/pseuds/Iki_teru
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sora looks tired, looks older than he should. "Roxas, what do you want? What would make you happy?"<br/>Snapshots of a life gifted back, on being a somebody for the first time and trying to find your place in the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	breaking the bones of your heart

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Kh secret santa fic for tumbler user @alone-in-my-little-infinity. They asked for precious few things and I probably delivered on even less, but I hope you enjoy it despite the short comings! I literally ran out of time on this, there was so much more I wanted to sneak in and I apologize for that.  
> dashes denote time jumps because I'm a hack. (and as always, my heart to @driedvoices for the editing/cheerleading/continued willingness to deal with me)

_You raised your hand to your face as if to hide it, the pink fingers gone gold as the light streamed straight to the bone, as if you were the small room closed in glass with every speck of dust illuminated. The light is no mystery, the mystery is that there is something to keep the light from passing through._

_-_ Richard Siken “Visible World”

  


Roxas comes to and everything is bright and painful. He forces himself to still, to take it in pieces. There is his heart, beating a frantic cadence against his ribs and the realization of his _heart_ only trips the tempo faster. There are arms around him, thin and steely. One calloused palm rubbing soothing lines against his shoulder while someone murmurs over and over, “it’s alright. We’ve got you, Roxas.”

There is another hand gripping his wrist but it’s too far away right now - he reels his attention back, focusing on the voice and the form he’s slumped against. Roxas manages to crack open an eye, although even the thin light sends searing agony through his skull. Kairi is holding him, still whispering those words like a magical incantation. Her gaze is far away, focused beyond wherever they are and her brows are drawn in worry.

She continues chaffing her hand against his arm and manages a smile for him. When she speaks this time, her words are threaded with a command. “This place isn’t safe. We need to move.” Everything about her is a contradiction and Roxas thinks he can see why Sora is a little in love with her.

“That would be great.” Roxas recognizes the new speaker as Riku and Roxas flinches involuntarily. “But these two aren’t exactly in moving state yet.”

The hand around Roxas’ wrist twitches it’s clammy fingers against his pulse. He tears his attention away from Kairi to focus on this new intrusion, following the hand to an arm to a shoulder to a familiar face.

Sora is a mirror image of Roxas: slumped sideways against Riku, breath dragging in and out in wet gasps, sweat beading at his temples. But he’s smiling at Roxas, all white teeth and bright eyes despite whatever pain he’s in, and that hand on Roxas’ wrist twitches again, a little stronger this time.

“We found you,” Sora beams. “Welcome home, Roxas.”

They do manage to get moving after that, Riku and Kairi helping support the other two and their uncooperative legs. It makes Roxas feel a little guilty, leaning against Kairi’s tiny frame like that, but she’s deceptively strong and doesn’t even buckle under his weight. Words are scarce as they walk. Occasionally they stop so Riku or Kairi can fire a spell behind them, always careful to keep Roxas facing forward. He wants to know what they don’t want him to see, but he can’t find the energy or the words to ask.

There is one tense encouragement about forty minutes in from Kairi. “They’re closing in; we need to move faster.” The ensuing movement is less Roxas walking with assistance and more Roxas trying not to get physically dragged forward.

Some pre-arranged rendezvous point must have finally been met because there’s a sudden tingle and then they’re aboard a gummi-ship. Roxas and Sora deposited carefully on a back bench while Riku jumps to the helm.

“Can you fly her?” Kairi asks him even as she presses a finger against Roxas’ neck, checking his pulse before repeating the motion with Sora.

Riku makes a noise that is not quite a laugh. “Sora does it. How hard can it be?”

“Har har,” Sora manages weakly. His hand drifts back to Roxas’ wrist, resting against the thrumming pulse there instead of encircling the whole thing. “Does this bother you?” He tilts his head towards place where they are touched.

Sora’s hand is warmer now, less sweaty, and if Roxas had control of his mouth yet he would tell him it was something of a comfort, this simple physical contact. But that requires energy and concentration he doesn’t possess in the moment so he settles for shaking his head.

Sora’s answering smile is so bright as to be painful. “Good,” he sighs, leaning over to rest his head on Roxas’ shoulder. He yawns, cracking his jaw in the process, and says, “You should get some rest. It’s a long flight back.”

Roxas doesn’t want to rest. There is air in his lungs and blood in his veins and he has fingers and toes of his own again and he doesn’t ever want to close his eyes. Wants to watch the stars slide by, wants to watch Riku and Kairi at the front of the ship, huddled together and talking quietly amongst themselves, because he has eyes and he can watch and he doesn’t want that taken away from him.

He drifts off with Sora’s quiet breath in his ear.

-

He does feel better for his nap, even if he’s a little miffed with himself for falling asleep so hard. There may be a little drool in Sora’s hair but the other boy just shrugs it off and insists he needs to shower when they get back anyway.

“We were thinking you could come back to the islands with us, unless you have somewhere else you’d rather go?”

Roxas flexes his hand and looks away from Sora and pointedly does not think of clock towers and balmy sunsets. “That’s fine,” he says. It doesn’t seem to be the answer Sora was looking for, Roxas sees his shoulders slump out the corner of his eye. But the subject is swiftly changed to banal, light hearted things. That was fine, too; Roxas would have plenty of time for his questions.

Sora doesn’t really have the room for an extra person at his place. His bed is barely big enough for him alone, so it’s the floor or staying with Riku.

“Riku has these sweet bunk beds,” Sora says, all smiles. “To be honest I would just as soon give you my bed and go bunk with him but I think my mom might freak out a little if she woke up to a stranger in her son’s bed.” He had enough sense to look sheepish. “She’s ah, been a little sensitive since I came back.”

Riku is standing against a nearby wall, studying the ground like it’s personally offended him. Roxas thinks about the last time the two of them were alone and barely manages to suppress a shudder.

“That’s fine,” he lies.

Things get quiet when they get to Riku’s without Sora around to carry the conversation. The bedroom is small, the aforementioned bunk beds taking up one side and a cramped desk and dresser crammed into a corner. The walls are bare. Roxas wonders what that says about the room’s owner.

“Do you even fit?” he motions to the modest length of the beds and then back to Riku’s sprawling legs.

“It’s a near thing,” Riku admits. “Hope you don’t mind the top bunk. I only have one spare pillow, we can go buy more if it’s not enough.”

There’s a blanket folded up on the top bunk, a softly knitted thing in shades of blue and grey that turns out to have been knitted especially for him by Kairi. He traces a corner of the pattern with a finger.

“If you don’t like the colors, she’s more than happy to make you another one.”

“It’s fine,” Roxas says. Then, “you guys have been planning this for a while.”

Riku shrugs. He sits down in the little chair at the little desk, sits backwards so he can lean forward against the back of the chair. “Not as long as we probably should have.”

Roxas climbs the ladder to the top bunk for want of something to do. “Can you explain exactly _what_ you guys did?”

“There was a spell and a place between worlds. Honestly it’s probably more complicated than that but Donald was the one who explained everything and do you know what it’s like listening to him for longer than five minutes? _Torture_. Yen Sid did his grave nodding of the head and said ‘it shall serve with little complications to those involved.’ It didn’t take as long as you’d think, but it drew creatures from the darkness.”

Roxas continued tracing the pattern in his blanket. “Why though? Was Sora...did it hurt him to have me there?”

Riku tilts his head, silver hair catching the light. “Not at all. But your place shouldn’t be inside someone else.”

“Funny,” Roxas began and his tone indicated he thought it was anything but. “You didn’t seem to feel that way when you kidnapped me.”

Riku sighs, equal parts exasperation and relief. “I was wondering when we’d get to this. Do you hate me then?”

He considered for a long minute. “I hate what you did and how you did it. I understand but that doesn’t make it better.” Roxas took his hand away from the blanket when he realized he was pulling at one of the knots. Already trying to undo an act of kindness. “Why did you have to put me in Twilight Town?”

“It was the best way to mask your presence. DiZ thought it would be a kindness.”

“He thought wrong.”

“I know.” There was a level of certainty in those two words that could only come after mulling the problem over many sleepless nights. Riku went on, “I am sorry for what it’s worth. Maybe if I had explained things we could have avoided that whole sorry arrangement.” He stands from the chair, stretching. “Do you want to hit me?”

“Yes.” The answer came so fast that Riku laughed.

“Well I’m not just going to stand here and let you clock me. Tell you what though, in a few months when you get your full strength back we’ll have a good old fashioned brawl. No magic, no keyblades, and if you hit me then you hit me.”

The thought that they expected him to stick around for months did something funny to Roxas’ stomach. “Alright, it’s a deal.”

“Glad we got that settled. Now if you’ll excuse me I didn’t get a nap the whole trip back and I’m exhausted.”

 

Roxas is a little embarrassed about how fast he falls asleep, given the fact that he _did_ sleep practically all day. But he’s tired down to his bones; hopes this is something that will fade as he gets used to being himself again.

He wakes again in the middle of the night, acidic panic in the back of his throat and heart hammering in his chest. A nightmare- except it’s not his because it’s not fading with his eyes open. “Sora,” he blurts without thinking.

Riku starts awake beneath him, one hand snaking over the rail of the bunk to pull himself up. “What’s wrong?” he asks. His voice queerly steady given he just woke from a dead sleep.

“I don’t know,” Roxas admitted. He struggles to find his breath. “He’s having a nightmare, I think.”

“We’d better get over there.” It wasn’t even a question, Riku strides over to the door, sliding his shoes on.

Sora is a sweaty mess tangled in his blankets. His face scrunches up, caught in the throes of his nightmare, unaware of the two figures perched precariously on his windowsill.

Roxas hears Riku mutter _again_ under his breath just before reaching out to give Sora a shake. Roxas has enough time to think _this is probably a bad idea_ and then Sora is awake. Or at least, his eyes are open although his gaze is wild and unfocused. There is a flash of light and Sora is holding the keyblade, levelled at Riku’s chest.

“Sora,” Riku says calmly. “It’s me.”

The fight goes out of Sora all at once, he slumps forward as the keyblade dissipates in a shower of lights. “Hey,” he says shakily. “A little early for a visit isn’t it?”

Riku and Roxas crawl through the window to sandwich him on his tiny bed. “We were lonely,” Roxas lies. They’re pressed shoulder to shoulder, knee to knee, and they stare out at the dark floor of Sora’s room in silence until the sun peeks over the horizon.

-

Kairi finds an air mattress, offering it up with a sweet smile. “It’s up to you if you want to stay at Riku’s but honestly? Sora’s room smells better. His mom still goes through and cleans it once a week.”

He and Sora do sleep a little easier with the new arrangement. Waking Sora up is still fraught with peril and more often than not the business end of a keyblade, but over the course of days Roxas discovers it’s best to just wake up and go about getting ready for the day. The gentle noises tends to wake Sora less dramatically than a shout or a touch.

-

Days stretch into a week, stretches into weeks and everyone keeps tip-toeing around Roxas. It wasn’t so bad in the beginning; when all he wanted to do was sleep and trips to the bathroom sapped him of whatever energy reserves he possessed.

But now he finds himself twitchy, full of nervous energy. Sora leans over the edge of his bed to look down at him and Roxas is momentarily annoyed at the way he just flops over everything and everyone.

“What do you want to do then?” Sora asks.

“I don’t know,” and if Roxas is a little snappy Sora doesn’t hold it against him. “But _something_.”

Sora nods, rolling out of bed and artfully avoiding stepping on Roxas where he’s splayed on the floor. “C’mon then.” He holds a hand out to Roxas who ignores it- choosing to pull himself up on his own.

They head to the only place there really is to go on Destiny Islands: the beach. Everyone is already assembled. Selphie curled under a large umbrella with a book in her lap, having a shouting match with Tidus about the fact that she’s right in the middle of the climax and it’s her business whether she wants to read or play volleyball. Everyone else ignores them, turning towards the late comers with welcoming grins.

“Just in time!” calls Wakka. He’s already divvying up the teams as they set up the net. It’s Sora, Tidus, and Roxas against Wakka, Riku, and Kairi.

“You’re not playing with Riku and Kairi?” the question comes before Roxas could think to censor it.

Sora’s answering smile is stiff. “Is that alright?”

Roxas shrugs. “Suit yourself.” He doesn’t say _I thought you guys did everything together, I thought you were inseperable, I thought your hearts beat as one and how can you stand to fight against them even in a silly game._

Kairi threads her fingers through the net, pushing her face against it. “Sora and Riku have a really nasty rivalry going.” She winks at Roxas. “The current score is like, a billion to zip.”

“Excuse you, it’s like seventy three to five.” Sora shakes a fist at her.

“Wait, seventy three? I thought I was at seventy five.”

“You were but I deducted two wins on account of all the cheesy crap that comes out of your mouth.”

They play until well after they should probably have stopped. Roxas learns it’s not so much about the score- at least not to everyone who isn’t Tidus- but about the action and ability to fill time with something. They finally call the game to a halt when Selphie snaps her book shut and declares it time for lunch.

They eat right on the beach; sandwiches cut into little triangles- sun warmed with melty cheese and just a touch of beach grit that they couldn’t wipe off their hands.

“Sora, did your mom make these?” Tidus snickers and Sora’s ears go pink.

“Yeah, what of it?”

Kairi elbows Tidus hard in the side. “You either get to make fun or you get to eat but not both.”

The day stretches long and lazy. Layers are shed until most of the boys are down to their boxers and little else. Sora is still in a thin tank top, which garners no small amount of attention from Tidus. “C’mon sora, it’s not like we haven’t seen your chest before.”

But he laughs and dances out of Tidus’ reach. “I’m fine really.” Roxas feels a spike of anxiety and later, when they’re walking back alone he asks Sora why he lied.

Sora smiles sadly, rubbing the middle of his chest. “It’s just easier that way. Less questions, less pain. Riku and Kairi have seen the scar a couple of times but they always get so sad.”

The scar. The scar left behind when Sora unlocked his heart to free Kairi’s, when Roxas was accidentally set loose in the world.

“Does it hurt?”

“Nah, it’s just an ugly thing nobody should have to look at.”

-

He sees Axel, once. They’re all crowded into Yen Sid’s room at the top of the tower and he catches the flash of spiky red hair, Axel’s back turned to him. Roxas calls out without thinking, taking a step forward and finding himself unable to move any farther.

Axel turns and his face is a little different. There are no marks under his eyes, his face looks a little fuller, his smile isn’t starved hyena sharp. Roxas doesn’t know this man except he does, there’s a familiar cant to his hip, an echo in the way he shakes his head. “Lea,” corrects Axel/Lea. He looks everywhere but at Roxas. “You’ve got terrible timing. I’m heading out on a thing, more of a favor than a mission really. We’ll catch up, yeah?”

Roxas looks up at the figure who he thinks of first when he says the word friend and nods his head. Axel/Lea breezes past him, stopping long enough to give an affectionate squeeze to Roxas’ shoulder.

-

It was easier now, deciding things for himself. Roxas still didn’t necessarily want, would still look to the others to gauge the atmosphere before voicing his thoughts but it was better.

He tended to follow after Sora, Kairi, and Riku more than anyone. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the other kids on the island, but Selphie asked too many questions and Wakka’s gaze was too sharp and there were too many things they weren’t supposed to talk about. So it went that he’d find himself perched on the curled trunk of the paopu tree, watching the sunset with the people he used to dream of.

“School’s starting soon,” Kairi said. She stretched her arms over her head, popping knuckles. It had been another long, lazy summer day of nothing to do but keep each other company. Everyone was covered in a gentle sheen of sweat and sand. Kairi reached around to pull the hair off the back of her neck, fanning herself. “We should probably start thinking about our summer homework.”

Everyone groaned.

“Give us a break, Olette.” The word were barely out of Roxas’ mouth when he realized exactly what he had done. Nobody says anything for a long minute, the air crackling with tension and Roxas thinks he can taste his heart in his mouth.

Kairi moves first, a simple shift of her weight. It’s enough to break the spell and Roxas leaps from the tree trunk; barrelling down the connecting bridge and ignoring the shouts from the others.

Sora is the one who comes for him in the sanctuary of the Secret Place.

“I’m sorry,” Roxas says before Sora gets a chance to do more than step into the cave proper. “That was weird wasn’t it? I’m not stupid, I know it wasn’t real.” he curls fingers in his hair, focuses on the seam by his knee. He’s having trouble breathing and everything has gone a bit blurry.

Sora kneels next to him, reaches out to touch the back of Roxas’ hand and they’re both shaking. “Roxas,” he says like he’s dealing with a small animal. “It was real to you.”

He lets himself cry. For the friends he remembers but did not have, for the life he dreamed and all the spaces in it that were his.

“Would you like to go to Twilight Town? Meet them?”

It’s a tantalizing offer and Roxas is just about to say yes before the implication really hits him. The people he remembers are figments of the real thing. He shakes his head. “It would be weird. I think it would hurt more than anything.”

Sora makes a noise of frustration. “Roxas, is there anywhere else you’d rather be?”

Roxas feels sick. This is it, the other shoe dropping. They’ve finally gotten tired of him. “You want me to go away?”

“What? No, that’s not-” Sora sighs, running a hand down his face in frustration. “I’m just saying. If you’re not happy here, you don’t have to stay. I just want you to be happy, it’s the least you deserve.” he trails off, rubbing a hand over the center of his chest.

Roxas tries to think about what he wants but every time he does his head hurts and his heart skips a beat. “This is enough for me,” he mumbles. “This is enough for right now.”

-

Another day, another afternoon spent wilting on the beach. Tidus is itching for a fight, swinging his stick around and trying to cajole someone into sparring. Wakka and Selphie both laugh at him, reminding him that they’ve each kicked his ass so many times it would be shameful to take him down today too. He shifts his attention to Sora, Riku, and Kairi all of whom look politely away and refuse to engage him.

But Tidus won’t drop it and when he points his stick at Roxas, sneering, “What about you?” Roxas doesn’t even really give it a second thought as he pulls himself up to accept the wooden sword.

Sora grabs his wrist, eyes hard even though he’s smiling. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

“It’s fine.” He doesn’t know if he wants to or not, just knows that Tidus does and that feels like enough right now.

Halfway through Roxas loses himself to the motions, it’s like a Struggle and if he closes his eyes he could imagine he’s swinging a foam bat at Hayner’s head.

Except, and it hits him like a bolt, none of that was real. He comes to a jerky stop, rotted wooden sword still poised over his head and his eyes go out of focus. _none_ if it was real, the lazy days in twilight town, the clock tower and the ice cream and the friendship. The pang in his heart means nothing.

Sora gave a cry before the blow even landed across Roxas’ fingers. He drops the sword, vaguely aware of the physical pain over the tight squeeze his heart was experiencing.

Riku is at his side first, hand on his shoulder, encouraging Roxas to look up, look at him. “You’re okay,” he says and whether he meant the hand or the hurt inside it all boiled down to the same thing.

He is okay.

Sora trips over, hands already outstretched, mouth curling around Roxas’ name.

Riku shoved his hand in sora’s face, pushing the other boy away. “Calm down, mom. It’s alright. Tell mom you’re alright, Roxas or he’s going to worry.”

Sora spluttered and Roxas managed to quirk an eyebrow. “Mom?” he asks, focusing on something other than the pain in the center of his face.

Riku shrugs a sly smile curling across his mouth. He drops his voice so the others couldn’t hear him. “I mean, when you think about it, he kind of _did_ give birth to you which makes him a mom.”

Later, on the walk home when it was just the four of them, Riku on one side and Sora on the other and Kairi walking backwards in front. “If I’m mom then who’s dad?” and all eyes looked over to Kairi who simply sighs.

“Think about it boys, dads are usually the ones who try to enforce the rules and gets angry all the time and nobody can take serious. Who do we know like that?”

Everyone blanched at the same moment.

“I definitely don’t want Donald for a dad.” It was the first thing Roxas was sure of since he woke up.

-

“It’s been about two months,” Sora says. He’s not looking at anything in particular but his shoulders are tense. He leans against Roxas like an oversized cat. “How you holding up?”

His life had been boiled down and distilled into something that felt more like a dream than the actual dreams did. Long days playing across the beach with people that wordlessly folded him into their ranks, including him and touching him and encouraging him.Some days it felt too good to be true. Some days he’d pinch his arm to remind himself he was here, he was awake (some days he tried not to hide in the closet with head between knees hyperventilating because _twilight town had felt real too until it didn’t_.)

he didn’t say any of this out loud. To Sora he said, “I’m fine I guess.”

Sora groaned, burying his face in his hands. “Fine is what my mom tells dad when he burns dinner.” He pressed tighter against Roxas’ side. The invasion of space should feel like an issue, he thinks, but it just feels warm instead. “What would make you _happy_.”

Roxas stared down at his hands. They were very similar to Sora’s, but they were paler, worn out in places where Sora’s were smooth. They were his hands. “I don’t know,” he admitted. Then, dredging up a smile for his friend, he amended; “when I find out I’ll tell you.”

Sora rocked back, a mischievous glint in his eye. “How would a race down the beach make you feel?”

“Probably pretty good, since I’m gonna win.”

There is no count down, no call to start. Both boys leapt over the railing and ran as fast as their legs would take them to where Sora’s friends, no, _their_ friends waited.

-

It’s been half a year and Roxas doesn’t dream of a past that wasn’t real anymore.

They all go to school, Sora choking on his tie in the mornings until Kairi gives in and leans over to adjust it, offering her services to Roxas too whose own tie is more a consideration than an actual thing. Afternoons are spent around one table or another, grousing about homework and cheating off each other. Then it’s down to the beach so they can drag sand home at dinner time.

Sora’s mom folds Roxas into the family effortlessly. He feels weird, the first time he slips and calls her mom; worries that he’s ruined something good here. But then Selphie breezes through and calls her mom too, and so do the others and Roxas finds himself relaxing into the lazy island home that belongs just as much to him now as it does to Sora.

Sora, Riku, and Kairi disappear occasionally on missions. The darkness never rests so neither can they. Sora never invites him along but always checks with Roxas before leaving, that he’s okay by himself. He has friends now, in Wakka and Selphie and even Tidus so when he answers _yes_ it’s not just to make Sora feel better. He always makes sure to see Sora off with a cheerful wave and half a prayer to come back safe.

After the third or fourth time though, when they come back smelling of burnt hair and exhaustion, when Kairi is still mending a cut across her cheek he begins to consider his options.

The next time Sora tells him they’re leaving he asks to come along.

“Are you sure?” Sora’s eyes darken and Roxas feels a cold wash of pain through his heart, through the connection he shares with Sora. It’s been still, these past couple of months, the strange thread that connects them; but it’s awake now and Roxas is aware enough to recognize the pain is _for_ him and not because of him. It’s a distinction he still has trouble making some days.

“I have a keyblade too,” Roxas points out. “I can help.”

Sora sighs and looks suddenly older than he should. “You don’t have to,” he says carefully. “Only if you want to. It’s your choice of course, we’d be more than happy to have you. But you’re also welcome to sit these things out and just...just be normal.”

Roxas points a finger at him, poking him in the the chest at the center of the starburst scar. “Did you have a choice?”

Sora makes a face, unhappy with the way the conversation is going. Roxas relents but only a little. “Sora, really. I wouldn’t ask if this wasn’t something I wanted to do.”

“Okay,” the fight has gone out of Sora’s body, slowly replacing with something that Roxas hesitates to call relief.

-

The heartless stretch out in an endless sea ahead of them. Next to Roxas, Kairi is stretching. He asks if it actually helps anything and she kisses his cheek. “Just remember that at the end of the day when you losers are all limping away I’m the one racing ahead to the ship.”

Ahead of them Riku shields his eyes as he surveys the scene awaiting them. “Normal rules?” The others give a cheer. “Roxas, please don’t try to take on the behemoth on your own this time. I don’t want to explain to Sora’s mom why I’m bringing back one of her boys in a worse condition than he was when I borrowed him.”

Roxas has enough grace to wince. “It was the _one_ time.”

On the other side of Kairi Sora is bouncing from foot to foot. “Are we going to stand around and talk all day, or are we going to go bust some heartless faces?”

There is no signal to begin, everyone summons their keyblades almost as one, and they launch into the writhing mass of darkness with laughter trailing behind them like a physical thing.

It’s a long, hard battle but they work well together. Even as dangerous as the situation is Roxas takes comfort in knowing that when it’s done, he gets to go back to the islands, go back _home_ and tackle an english essay and in three days they have prom and after that, he’s finally going to sit down and catch up with Axel/Lea.  It’s not perfect, but it’s a life he chose, and it’s enough to get him through this battle and all the ones that will follow.

(the end, for now)


End file.
